PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A review of nearly a half-million car stops by the Pennsylvania State Police takes a deep dive into how race or ethnicity might have played a role in whether drivers were given a warning, issued a ticket or arrested.
Robin Engel from the National Policing Institute says there's no good benchmark to measure if racial or ethnic bias plays a role in who gets pulled over, so instead they looked at the outcome of 440,000 trooper initiated car stops in 2022.
"Due to methodological limitations in the science, we've decided that it's more appropriate to focus on what happens after a stop is made, rather than examining that initial stop decision," Engel said.
"The goal of this project is to identify patterns and trends and traffic stops and outcomes to increase the equity and safety for motorists and for troopers."
After each stop in 2022, troopers recorded the race and ethnicity of the driver and whether there was a warning, a citation or an arrest.
The full report is 169 pages. Engel says there was nearly a 50% increase in the number of traffic stops compared to a similar study in the late 2000s, but she says they found no statistical difference among Black, white, Hispanic or Asian drivers.
"Black and Hispanic drivers are no more or less likely statistically speaking, to be issued a citation, warned, or arrested compared to white motorists," she said.
Of the 440,000 car stops, 40% were for speeding, with an average of 21 mph over the speed limit, and 27% were for other moving violations. The rest were for things like expired inspections or registrations.
She says the troopers reported, in 98% of all stops, the drivers were respectful or civil.
